Development platforms and tools: Open source hardware 2009 – The definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2009

Part of The definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2009

Development platforms and tools – These are tools and platforms, a wide category – but filled with chip programmers, mini-computers, debugging hardware and tons of project to – make other projects!

Beagle board

The USB-powered Beagle Board is a low-cost, fan-less single board computer that unleashes laptop-like performance and expandability without the bulk, expense, or noise of typical desktop machines.
Price: $149.00
Visit the project page

Bug Labs

BUG is a modular, open source system for building devices.
Price: $499 and up
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Bus Pirate

The ‘Bus Pirate’ is a universal bus interface that talks to most chips from a PC serial terminal, eliminating a ton of early prototyping effort when working with new or unknown chips. Many serial protocols are supported at 0.6-5.5volts, more can be added.
Price: $27.15
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Chumby

Chumby takes your favorite parts of the Internet and delivers them to you in a friendly, always-on, always-fresh format. It’s a window into your Internet life that lives outside your desktop, so content like weather, news, celebrity gossip, podcasts, music, and more has a place to play away from your world of documents and spreadsheets.
Price: $99 and up
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Buy one @ Maker Shed (guts)

Funnel

Funnel is a toolkit to sketch your idea physically, and consists of software libraries and hardware. By using Funnel, the user can handle sensors and/or actuators with various programming languages such as ActionScript 3, Processing, and Ruby. In addition, the user can set filters to input or outputs ports: range division, filtering (e.g. LPF, HPF), scaling and oscillators.
Price: $24.95
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Gainer

Gainer is an environment for user interfaces and media installations. By using the Gainer environment, the user can handle sensors and/or actuators with a PC on various programming environments such as Flash, Max/MSP, Processing and so on.
Price: $30.00
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Liberlab

The Open Source project Liberlab aims to help democratize educational scientific experimentation through the creation and use of a DIY digital lab at a very low price ($20). Liberlab can also be used to learn about robotics, automation, human-machine interface or interactive arts.
Price: $20.00
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Make controller

The Make Controller 2.0 & Interface Board Kit includes the Make Controller Version 2.0 and the new Interface Board that makes adding sensors and motors easier than ever! Also available with the Application Board. The Make Controller is built around the AT91SAM7X256, and adds the essential components (like the crystal, voltage regulator, filter capacitors, etc.) required to run it, while bringing almost all the processor’s signal lines out to standard 0.1″ spaced sockets.
Price: $85.00
Visit the project page
Buy one @ Maker Shed

Wiring

Wiring is an open source programming environment and electronics i/o board for exploring the electronic arts, tangible media, teaching and learning computer programming and prototyping with electronics. It illustrates the concept of programming with electronics and the physical realm of hardware control which are necessary to explore physical interaction design and tangible media aspects.
Price: $84.00
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Illuminato X Machina

In less than four square inches, each Illuminato X Machina board contains the elements of a fully functional computer. A single Illuminato X Machina module, or ‘cell’, is equipped with a 72 MHz ARM-based microprocessor, a dedicated EEPROM chip for data storage, and RAM.
Price: $65.89
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Buy one @ Maker Shed

Pocket AVR Programmer

This is a simple to use USB AVR programmer. It is low cost, easy to use, works great with AVRDude, and is tested extensively on a Windows desktop. Based on Dick Steefland’s USBtiny and Limor Fried’s USBtinyISP.
Price: $14.95
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Sun SPOTs

Project Sun SPOT was created to encourage the development of new applications and devices. It is designed from the ground up to allow programmers who never before worked with embedded devices to think beyond the keyboard, mouse and screen and write programs that interact with each other, the environment and their users in completely new ways. A Java programmer can use standard Java development tools such as NetBeans to write code.
Price: $299.00
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Twatch

The #twatch scrolls the latest trending topics from Twitter on an LCD screen. It’s a stand-alone network appliance that stays updated without a PC.
Price: $40.65
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USBasp AVR programmer

USBasp is a USB in-circuit programmer for Atmel AVR controllers. It simply consists of an ATMega48 or an ATMega8 and a couple of passive components. The programmer uses a firmware-only USB driver, no special USB controller is needed.
Price: $20
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USBtinyISP AVR Programmer Kit

USBtinyISP is a simple open-source USB AVR programmer and SPI interface. It is low cost, easy to make, works great with avrdude, has both 6 and 10 pin standard ISP cables, is AVRStudio-compatible and tested under Windows and MacOS X.
Price: $22.00
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Web platform

The Dangerous Prototypes web platform is a tiny server designed for networked hacks where a full PC is inconvenient. There’s lots of interesting projects that bridge the internet to microcontrollers, but most of them have a PC in the middle to handle network stuff. This business card size internet appliance can connect to web services, control physical objects from a browser interface, or email sensor status reports; no PC intermediary required! (Initially licensed Creative Commons, then released into the public domain after Seeed delivers the first units).
Price: $35
Visit the project page